INDIA’S first pilot project to be recognised under the UN’s mechanism for reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD) could be in the East Khasi Hills in Meghalaya. A watershed project, started jointly by a California-based non-profit and a tribal community in 2005 in the northeastern state aims at checking …
Wind energy has been the poster child of India’s renewable energy programme. Data released by the government shows the staggering pace at which wind farms have been added across the country. But most of them deliver only a fraction of their generation potential, according to the Union Ministry of New …
The United Nations said its Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is growing steadily, having registered 3,000 carbon cutting energy projects to date. Under the CDM, firms invest in projects that reduce climate-warming emissions in developing nations and receive credits called certified emissions reductions (CERs) in return. The scheme began in 2005 …
Interest in “nested” approaches to REDD+ has grown steadily as policy makers, practitioners and investors seek to reconcile approaches to reducing, and rewarding, emissions reductions at different scales – national, subnational and project. The 16 th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC in Cancun marked the …
Shift in rainfall patterns across Southern Hemisphere The Antarctic ozone hole is about one-third to blame for Australia's recent series of droughts, say scientists. Writing in the journal Science, they conclude that the hole has shifted wind and rainfall patterns right across the Southern Hemisphere, even the tropics. Their climate …
AT A time when the world is pushing for organic farming, the US is advocating the no-till method. Tilling, a process that turns soil inside out, helps develop a good seed bed while destroying weeds, insects and microbes. Organic farming requires land to be tilled to control weeds and pests …
MIGRATORY birds are becoming vulnerable to shifts in seasons. Climate change is modifying the time of seasons. Early arrival of spring at breeding sites is making it harder for the migratory birds to attract mates or find food. Scientists warn this ecological mismatch can reduce bird populations. The ecological mismatch …
Herman Rosa Chavez counts every day that he has been in office. It’s a point El Salvador’s soft-spoken Minister of Environment and Natural Resources makes in all his conversations, underscoring the urgency with which he views his tasks, both in the domestic and international sphere. “For us climate change is …
Two major events happening at two ends of the world—Japan’s natural disaster and nuclear fallout and unrest in Libya and other countries of the region—have one thing in common. Energy. The fallout from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, hit by earthquake and then the tsunami, has not yet been contained. …
In the Union Budget presented by the Finance Minister of India, Pranab Mukherjee on 28 February 2011, the science, technology and environment sector was allocated Rs 16,186 crores, an increase of more than 18% over last year’s allocation of Rs 13,677 crores (http://india-budget.nic.in/ub2011-12/bag/bag41.pdf). The budget which has been largely touted …
A review of the use and value of seasonal climate forecasting for agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), with a view to understanding and exploiting opportunities to realize more of its potential benefits. Interaction between the atmosphere and underlying oceans provides the basis for probabilistic forecasts of climate conditions at a …
This IEA roadmap provides a consensus view on the current status of smart grid technologies and maps out a global path for expanded use of smart grids, together with milestones and recommendations for action, for technology and policy development. The development of smart grids – which the IEA defines as …
The national climate change policy provides a framework for addressing the issues that Pakistan faces or will face in future due to the changing climate. In view of Pakistan’s high vulnerability to adverse impacts of climate, in particular extreme events, adaptation effort is the main focus of this policy document. …
Two states succeeded. Rest did not. The National Action Plan of Climate Change (NAPCC) envisages five per cent of total energy production every year from all states will be from renewable sources. But in the financial year ending March 2010, the achievement was of 3.9 per cent, majority of which …
Betel leaves were once dubbed green gold. But farmers do not find betel farming lucrative anymore. Besides low demand, it is the rising input cost, primarily for irrigation, that is discouraging betel farmers. Since it is a tropical plant, growing betel in the subtropic climate of India requires extra care …
A MEGADROUGHT in parts of Africa and Asia about 17,000 years ago led to mass migration of humans and animals. It is regarded as the most severe in the last 50,000 years. Rainfall in this drought-hit region is caused when winds from the northern and southern hemispheres converge ne-ar the …
It is no mean task to find a moneylender for a financially risky project. More so, if it is a high-investment, low-return project under the ambitious Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission. The fact that government did not plan finance for a mission that aims to address the challenges of climate …
TWO recent studies have clinched enough empirical data to repudiate any climate change sceptic. For the first time, the studies have pinned down greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for frequent extreme weather events like rainfall and floods. In one study, UK and Switzerland researchers analysed one of the worst floods in …
